Category Archives: Sony Reader

It’s not surprising given the closures in the North America market, but there was still slight hope that Sony wouldn’t give up on ebook reading for good—that is clearly not the case anymore.

This is another sad tale of Sony giving up on something that they had an integral part in starting. It’s quite pathetic, really. Now ereading fans will lose what little respect they had left for Sony. Nobody likes a quitter.

This is a company that didn’t even know how to start.

Once again, those who were young at Sony said from the beginning the Reader should have wireless. They were overruled by the veteran Suits.

By analogy, in the US, when Agency Lite was brought into existence, Kobo saw its net revenues steadily decline. Kobo has since stopped investing in marketing in the US, closed its office in Chicago and is focusing on other markets. Its market share and revenues are now negligible there.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

Well, there it is. What I’ve thought was the case for at least the past year.

Sony is a company that’s lost its cool factor. They might be doing some seriously exquisite tech that sets them apart from everyone else, but they don’t seem to be able to effectively communicate it in a way that excites people.

It’s a very strange world where I can get excited over Chinese tablets that will never be sold in American stores yet news of Sony products makes me yawn — and Sony’s prices make me think they’re delusional.

Same-day update: It looks like the Reader isn’t going to be around either:

The hedge fund manager, Daniel S. Loeb, is pressing Sony into spinning off part of its entertainment arm, which includes one of the biggest film studios in Hollywood and one of the largest music labels in the world, responsible for movies like “Skyfall” and artists like Taylor Swift.

Sony’s entry into the entertainment business was strictly to add value to its electronics business.

It never worked out that way because the entertainment tail wagged the electronics dog, insisting on DRM, regional rights, and other things that just make no sense in a digital world without borders and with the capability to do immediate, worldwide release.

The Oh. My. God. Moment came in picking it up. This is a masterpiece of design and engineering. It is what a totable computer should be. This is what the Nokia 770 and all UMPCs should be like. Just this exact size and thickness. This is science-fiction come to life. It is worth your time to get to any store that has it just to hold it.

Sales of the iPad mini are cannibalizing sales of the iPad, according to a report from NPD DisplaySearch. January shipments of tablet panels between 7 and 9 inches eclipsed shipments of larger panels, indicating an unexpected shift in consumer preference for a smaller form factor tablet.

Photo of paper models:

Left-right: Sony Reader 500, iPad Mini, Sony Reader 505

Obviously the Reader is now too small. But there was nothing else like it at that size back then. I was in the ballpark, though.

Japan’s Sony Corp is cutting 10,000 jobs, about 6 percent of its global workforce, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday, as new CEO Kazuo Hirai looks to steer the electronics and entertainment giant back to profit after four years in the red.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

First, Howard Stringer should have never been let near Sony, never mind being put in charge of it.

Second, the Japanese are too damned self-effacing for their own good. Howard Stringer would have been booted out on his fat ass within two years of his mis-management had he been here in America.

Third, notice the word I emphasized: profit. That’s nothing more than temporarily making the books look good. It says zero about long-term sustainability.

Fourth, this is not going to save Sony. Throwing overboard ten thousand people is an admission of defeat, period. That tells me that Sony has been so gutted and so bollixed that whatever good ideas might still be inside that company have no chance of getting any attention.

Fifth, it also tells me that those currently in charge of Sony wouldn’t recognize a good idea if it bit them in the ass and starting draining their blood by the pint. This might now be in the very DNA of Sony, since there were people inside Sony who advocated the Sony Reader should have had wireless from the beginning, yet were overruled and then ignored as Amazon triumphed.

Sixth, Sony used to be all about the display. Who has that reputation now? Samsung! Losing a core business like that is simply inexcusable. It would be like Nokia losing its phone operating system (oops!).

Seventh, all Sony is doing these days is Me-Too and zombie tech. Me-Too: Android devices that have nothing to recommend them. Zombie tech: How long can they keep milking PlayStation (which was created by someone who was forced out of Sony, Ken Kutaragi!).

Eighth, Sony has become legacy corporate. It’s now more interested in preserving the jobs of those who lead it than moving the company into a glorious future. Hunkering down instead of risking is little different from just being dead.